SNAFU
by DennaHastings
Summary: "The Art of Seduction by Jenny Day…" Flora read aloud, chewing her lip with trepidation. Not a bad start Flora mused, this could be interesting…
1. Chapter 1

"Jenny! Jenny! Look what I've found"

What looked to be a small bush with human legs burst through the entry way with a loud crash. Green. Blue. Purple. Pink. Colours seemed to whirl past as the bush in question ran toward the corner of the common room at an alarming speed, alarming because bushes with the ability to run were unheard of – even in the wizarding world.

For the most part, the Ravenclaw students kept their heads in their books, their concentration on their homework, and in the case of Jerome Witherby, his hands up Eloise Watkins' skirt. They had quickly learned that any sentence beginning with 'Jenny!' was not worth their time and simply tuned out of their housemates wild schemes, which is why as Flora-Phyllis Morris rushed through the common room looking more plant than human, no one paid her any mind.

"Jenny!" Flora called again, willing her legs to go faster. She felt on top of the world. Ecstatic. Like she could duel a Slytherin and live to tell the tale! Nothing could ruin her mood!

She tried to peek over the assortment of plants in her arms, a task made difficult by her lack of height and the sheer amount of plant matter she'd collected.

Nonetheless, she came skidding to a stop as she reached a secluded blue couch in the corner of the common room - at least she hoped that's where she was, she couldn't really see. Fortunately, the tall blonde in question sat huddled over an aged leather journal, she didn't even lift her gaze as she spoke in a calculating voice.

Flora dropped her specimens on the ground in a heap, widening her mouth in preparation for the flurry of words that were begging to be released.

"I have a plan" The blonde girl spoke before Flora had a chance to launch into her excited explanation of the evening.

These words were not inherently bad words. On the contrary, having a plan usually involved an appreciable amount of effort and thought. These words, when uttered by anyone other than Jenny Day, would not have been a cause for concern.

Jenny often had plans; half-baked plans, ruses, ploys, gambits and perhaps most notably, the great transfiguration scheme of '72.  
Unfortunately for Flora, Jenny chose to measure the success of their schemes on an arbitrary scale.

What Jenny would call 'A romantic moonlit swim with the Giant Squid,' Flora would call 'A death defying escape from the jaws of a beast'. What Jenny would call, 'A revitalizing mud mask for our weather-worn skin', Flora would call 'A pile of Mooncalf dung.'

As the words sunk in, Flora's heart fluttered as if fourteen man-sized butterflies were trying to escape her chest cavity. Her large grin dropped as she surveyed Jenny's face, an odd mixture of contentment and maliciousness.

"B-but…"

Jenny slowly set down her pen, looking up at Flora with her hands folded under her chin.

"I can't, I-I need to finish my transfiguration essay" Flora finally said, at a speed much too fast to be considered casual. She absolutely did not want to be roped into a scheme right now, especially one she hadn't planned herself.

Flora tried to smile as she looked down at Jenny; the result being more of a grimace, the type of face you'd see on someone who'd won seven million Galleons on the same day their Nan died.

Jenny twirled a long strand of blonde hair between her fingers, reaching into her journal.

"You mean…" She pulled out a twelve-inch piece of parchment "This essay"

Flora's perpetually widened eyes increased in size, if possible. Bollocks.

"No, t-the other one" Flora said with sagged shoulders, she'd been bested once again.

Jenny raised a single eyebrow as if to say 'Nice try, but no dice'.

"Right, which means you have plenty of time to help your best friend on her quest to find…" Jenny stopped mid-sentence, gesticulating wildly with her arms before continuing, "…Love!"

Ah…so love was involved. Surprisingly, this was not an area of complete failure for Jenny. In fourth year, they had successfully snagged Tom Harrison in a genius display of their transfiguration and charms prowess, they'd hatched a plan involving a hat, an antique walking cane and a speaking toad (Neither could recall the specifics).

There had also been the brief yet passionate love affair with an older Slytherin, Jenny had almost driven Flora mad with her fake French accent – it had worked though, he wept like a baby when Jenny 'moved back to France.'

"Now if you look here I've written two key objectives…" The lanky blonde huddled closer to Flora, rustling through a large pile of sheets before pawing one off to her.

"The Art of Seduction by Jenny Day…" Flora read aloud, chewing her lip with trepidation, not a bad start Flora mused, this could be interesting…

"Step One…" Flora continued tilting her head sideways in an effort to read the messy scrawl, "Seduce Sirius Black" Her eyes were probably the size of the moon at this point, Sirius Black? Was she mad? Not only was he considered the best looking and most sought-after boy in the grade, but he was a member of the Marauders, the group of terrors that challenged the school rules daily.  
Just the thought of them was enough to inspire a Pavlovian style fear response, her heart felt as if it'd burst through her chest at any moment. Morgana give her strength.

They were just plain old Jenny Day and Flora-Phyllis Morris, the quiet Ravenclaws that kept to themselves and handed in their homework on time. Their scheming was carried out, for the most part, in their spare time under the comfort of a disillusionment charm. Most people in other houses struggled to remember their names and knocked into them in the halls; there was no shame in that, it had always been that way. Why break their carefully maintained anonymity in their final year? Flora had no delusions of grandeur, she'd finish this year and intern under a potion master the next – There would be no boys, no detentions and DEFINITELY no Sirius Black.

Flora searched the otherwise blank page, frowning as she looked up at an overeager Jenny.  
"Jenny, there's only one step here…"

"Oh! Are you sure?" Jenny scrunched her nose up as she searched her bundle of papers, cursing under her breath.

"Ok, so listen up…" Jenny reopened her signature journal, something which she was never found without.

"I call it the F.L.O.R.A system" She started, flicking her eyes up briefly to enjoy Flora's reaction (Riling up Flora was one of Jenny's favourite pass times).

"You've roped my name into this? Surely there were a million other words you could've chosen. You know I don't lik-" Flora started, looking peeved.

"Right. F – First contact, this is where you come in…" Jenny butted in with a smirk.

"I come in already? It's the first step!" Flora's stomach lurched as if she'd taken an extreme dive on her broomstick.

"Oh, be quiet. I'm trying to share my night's work with you. Didn't your Nan teach you any manners?"

Flora's eyebrows pulled together silently as she regarded her friend, steeling herself for the rest of the plan.

"Good. F – First contact, we're hardly as bold and brazen as those Griffin-twats, but I happen to think we're just as pretty. I need him to notice me. Just enough for him to think…hmm she's not half bad" Jenny eyes traced her page, frowning for a moment as she struggled to read her own hand writing, after a moment's thought she looked back up, her smile as broad as ever.

"You're going to need to break into Slughorn's office, I have it on good authority that he uses a charmed list to select potion partners, you just need to manipulate it a little bit. He'll be none the wiser, who'd ever suspect you after all."

"Bu-" Jenny rose a finger sharply, motioning for Flora to be quiet.

"L – Leap to the rescue, that's where I come in! We've got to play on his Gryffindor values, in this step I'm showing him that I'm brave…like a lioness"

"You'll be doing that face…" Jenny peered up from her notebook momentarily to look at Flora, evidently, she was pleased because she barked out a 'Perfect!' before continuing, "we'll need some type of danger, I haven't quite decided yet…but I'll jump in like an absolute maverick with my kick-ass defense skills and save the day!"

"O – Offer value, this is perhaps my favorite step…" She said mischievously, looking over to a very sleepy and worried looking Flora. She rolled her eyes.  
"Oh for Merlin sake, we'll do this tomorrow, look at you"

Jenny drew out her wand, tapping the page of her note book, the large letters that once spelled F.L.O.R.A dissipated into nothingness and were replaced with a rather innocuous looking journal entry.

Flora let her sleepy head lull to the side, it was a bit nonsensical, replacing secret plans with secret thoughts. "I've never understood that, why not just disguise it as a book? If anyone steals it they'll still get to read all of your secrets…"

"Yes Flora, but that's the genius behind it – it looks like a journal. If anyone were to steal it, why would they look for anything BUT the musings of the wonderful Jenny Helia Day? Plus, I'm an open book, they can read all they like, it's my plans that I really care about"

"I do like to throw a bit of nonsense in their though…I think you'll appreciate my latest work"

Flora's brown eyes scanned the page as Jenny proudly held up a rather abstract piece of work entitled 'Jenny's Perfect Man: A drawing by Jenny Day.'

An enormous circle sat in the middle of the page with small stumpy limbs protruding from four equidistant points, a fifth 'limb' also stuck out the bottom of the circle.

Flora tilted her head to the side, letting her eyes run over the abnormally long, veiny leg. "Why does he have three legs?"

"Ahh, my innocent little Flora, that is no leg"

It wasn't a leg? Then what was it? Jenny continued to smile at her with a malicious grin.

"Oh…Ohhh" Flora tried to tame the blazing fire of her cheeks to no avail.  
A small, round head with beady little eyes was clumsily drawn above a short, stumpy neck.

Jenny pulled out a pot of pink ink, raising an eyebrow in question at Flora.

An hour later, the girls lay sprawled in front of the fire, still bursting into fits of giggles every time they thought of an addition for their diagram.

 **Thanks for reading! let me know if you liked it**

 **Denna :)**


	2. Chapter 2

"Don't look so down Pete, Claudia Heinlein is a right bint. She doesn't deserve you anyway." Sirius said as he flopped back onto his bed.

James Potter nodded feverishly in agreement as he paced the room. "…Right, and she isn't…" He looked to Sirius as he searched his brain for an idea.

Remus looked up in time to see Sirius mouthing a few words at James as they looked between each other and a rather depressed Peter Pettigrew.

"She's not pretty enough for you mate, I just didn't want to say it earlier and I think she's a bit intimidated…" Sirius paused, spotting himself in the mirror before continuing "By your roguish good looks".

Remus exhaled deeply as he scrubbed his hands over his face and then back into his messy hair. If this were real-estate Pete would be a hopeful first-time buyer with just enough money to purchase a modest apartment in a semi-undesirable part of town, and Claudia, she'd be a nice town house in a posh part of London. Simply put, this was probably going to go more horribly than usual.

This whole conversation felt like a serious case of deja-vu, an endless cycle that had been repeating since the middle of their sixth year. Sirius would notice Peter looking a bit down and offer to help him in the ladies department, something which Wormtail would never deny as Sirius was definitely the most qualified to help him. James and Sirius would single out some decent looking girl and the half-baked woo-ing phase of their plan would begin.

He peered through one eye when he noticed a lull in conversation, everyone seemed to be looking at him. Right. He pulled his lanky frame into a sitting position with another hefty sigh and spared a glance over at a sullen looking Peter.

"What they mean to say Pete, is that you're trying to rush things along. You hadn't even spoken to Claudia before today. Why not try smaller steps?" Remus forced a smile.

Peter seemed to think this over for a minute before he shot up, standing with confidence Remus had never seen from him.

"You know what? I think you're right" Peter brushed down his clothes sending stray crumbs from breakfast onto the carpeted floor.

The boys looked up at each other.

"Really?"

"How can I get all mopey when I haven't even spoken to her? and I mean, look at me!" Peter said, as if he had realised the roguish good looks Sirius had mentioned earlier.

Sirius sprung up, not ready to let Peter's newfound confidence go to waste. "'Atta boy! Now what do you say we go show off those bulging muscles at lunch" Sirius slung a long arm around Peter, ushering him toward the door but not before sending James and Remus an utterly devilish smile.

It wasn't until they were sitting in the library a week later that they returned to Peter's 'situation'. Needless to say, Claudia Heinlein was long forgotten. That plan had been an absolute bust, not only because she wasn't the least bit interested in Peter, but because Sirius had failed to realise that she already had a boyfriend – a very muscled and intimidating Slytherin one at that.

"Alright Lads, gather round for I, James Potter, have had a stroke of genius"

"I'd prefer if you just had a stroke" Remus flicked through the pages of his textbook only looking up to offer him a grin.

"You wound me, Moony, I thought we were meant to be mates"

Remus opened his mouth to offer yet another witty retort but Sirius shushed him and sat forward listening eagerly.

"Go on James, you're giving me that look! I like it" Sirius tried to hurry along the conversation drumming his fingers on the table and bouncing his knee up and down in excitement.

"Right…well do you know that bird in Ravenclaw…the one with the hair and the frown? Kind of quiet and uh shit…what is her name?"

The boys all looked to Sirius.

"Geena Davies?" He tried, his voice rising in question.

"Yes! Oh, hang on...No, that's that Hufflepuff" James said, cursing his terrible memory. Who was it again?

"She has the big thing and the uh…" James could picture her so clearly in his mind, but the damn name was eluding him.

"Oh! Jerri Dansie? She has big 'things'" Sirius tried to help as he went through a catalogue of large chested girls in his mind.

"No…J-Jen-" James tried again, a look of extreme concentration on his face.

Remus' gaze flitted over to a table not so far from theirs where a massive fluff of brown hair was bent over parchment (there was a reason he always chose this seat), next to the girl in question sat a leggy blonde who seemed to be speaking animatedly about something whilst wildly gesturing to her leather bound note book.

"Jenny Day?" Surely not, Remus thought as he said the name. Flora and Jenny were as quiet as they came…the very definition of flying under the radar.

"Yes!" James slammed his hands down on the table excitedly, before catching sight of the blonde girl sitting not so far away.

He leaned forward, lowering his voice. "Yes well, she sneezed in Herbology – a God awful sneeze like a…well, it got me looking at her; nice smile, pretty face and a very generous pair of…" James smiled, motioning with his hands.

"Bongos" Sirius grinned, finally putting a face (and body) to the name.

"What do you say Pete? Do you have a fondness for percussion instruments?" Sirius wiggled his eyebrows up and down.

"I do like girls with…nice assets"

"Then she shall be yours!" Sirius exclaimed, standing up triumphantly (This earned him a rather nasty look from the librarian).

Remus felt worry coil in his stomach and slither its way into his tightening chest. He looked back over at that pretty mess of curls and frowned. If they were honing in on Jenny they'd undoubtedly have some run-ins with Flora too, and if his friends finally realised why he studied at this particular table every night, and sat with a perfect view of the Ravenclaw table at every meal, and continued with Ancient Runes despite not caring for the subject...well, he'd never get them off his case.

"Peter is a bit shy for that, don't you think? It'd be better to get her to notice him. Maybe a group setting would be better? Or better yet, why don't we try another girl? Paloma Hemingway from Hufflepuff is single and as talkative as they come" Remus said quickly, already frowning as he forced his gaze away from _that_ particular table.

Sirius looked contemplative for a minute, rubbing his temples as if to help himself think.

"Moony raises some valid points, you tend to do that sneering thing with your upper lip when you're nervous" He pulled an ugly face as if to mimic Peter.

"And the clammy hands, they won't work in your favour either" James wiggled his hands and grimaced just thinking of the hand situation...

"Right, so here's what we're going to do..."

* * *

 **Hope you guys enjoyed this!**

 **Denna x**


	3. Chapter 3

Flora glanced down at the large peacock feather clutched in her hand. It glimmered prettily under the light - an iridescent purple with an almost eye-like dark splotch at the end. But most importantly, it was very fluffy. Perfect for tickling unsuspecting victims out of their slumber. She bit down on her bottom lip as she glanced at the heavy blue curtains surrounding the bed next to her own.

This, without a doubt, was the hardest part of Sunday morning: A jet of cold water never worked, nor did an impromptu saxophone performance, and unsurprisingly, asking nicely was like using a chocolate wand to fight a death eater.

With a final shaky breath her hand lifted to rest on the silky blue material of the curtains. She closed her eyes for a moment, before looking back up with a steely mask of determination. Her right hand raised as if wielding a sword and she burst through the curtains like a gladiator charging into battle.

Flora stopped in her tracks, feather still at the ready, as she stared dumbly at the empty bed.

Where in the hell was Jenny?

She hurried forward, staring in wonder at the wrinkled sheets…Well this certainly wasn't adding up. An empty bed meant that Jenny had woken up of her own volition and was gone. That was as ludicrous as if she'd opened the curtain to Sirius Black and Dumbledore in the throes of passion.

Wild ideas flew through her mind in quick succession, was it possible to sleep under a disillusionment charm? Maybe Jenny had managed to get hold of an invisibility cloak and was sleeping soundly under it? Or maybe Jenny had been kidnapped by an evil wizarding corporation and was being held hostage somewhere exotic leaving it up to her, Flora, to save the day. Her throat constricted a bit, Oh God! She wasn't cut out for that kind of thing, surely there was a perfectly rational and reasonable explanation.

The morning light trickled in through the now open curtains like a spotlight, seemingly taunting Flora as she looked down at the empty bed.

She hesitantly continued her path forward, slowly lowering her hand toward the 'empty bed' with as much hesitation as someone trying to pet a particularly bite-y animal in Care of Magical Creatures. Her hand lowered, and lowered, ready to get to the bottom of whatever nonsense was concealing her friend and...

"Hello Flora!"

"AH!"

She jumped surprisingly high for someone of her stature and fell to ground in a heap of terrified and confused human flesh. Her breathing was still heavy as she looked up through her mess of hair, only making out a vaguely human-like silhouette. With a deep huff she blew her hair away from her eyes sending it flying in random directions. Jenny smiled down at her, fully dressed and clutching dragon-hide gloves in one hand and her book-bag in the other.

"I suppose we should get going then!" Jenny offered a hand to Flora and she grinned down at her.

Flora's eyes narrowed as Jenny's cold fingers closed around her own and hoisted her up. Everything about this screamed fishy…had Jenny brushed her hair? Impossible, and she was acting _excited_ for Herbology Club? Not likely.

"You hate Herbology Club?" She finally said, still eyeing Jenny with caution.

"When did I say that?" Jenny started toward the door, humming innocently as she went.

Flora stood her ground, forcing her friend to stop and look back at her. "Hmm, let me think. Last week, the week before that, and the one before that as well." She searched Jenny's face for any sign of deception, and after a few seconds she was finally rewarded: the infamous Jenny Day eye twitch, her one and only tell. Two twitches of her right eye and you bet your bottom galleon Jenny was lying, or scheming, or both (Usually both).

Well, she wasn't stupid. The only scheme that had been occupying Jenny's mind for the past week was plan 'Seduce, Marry and Procreate with Sirius Black' which meant Jenny was buttering her up to do some leg work, probably tonight based on her saccharine smile – for reference, a sweet smile like that from Jenny was akin to walking under a ladder on Friday the 13th as a black cat happened to cross your path.

Flora pressed her lips into a firm line as she sat back down on her blue quilt. She rested her head in her hands as she stared at the blank white wall of the dormitory in front of her.

"Out with it then, but hurry, Boris will be waiting for us at the greenhouse and I don't like making him grumpy" She gestured toward the wall as she spoke.

Jenny dropped her dragon hide gloves with little regard and she sauntered forward.  
"I thought you'd never ask." Finally, a real smile from Jenny. Not one of those cutesy ones you'd expect from a model on the cover of Witch Weekly.

"This phase of the plan requires a bit of leg work and since I am the brains of the operation, I suppose that the legs in question should belong to you." Jenny stepped closer to the wall like a teacher ready to begin class.

"By that logic you should've been the legs for operation Ze-"

Jenny held up a hand, halting the words in Flora's mouth before they formed. "I am a woman of action, and action I shall get…but only if you, Flora-Phyllis Morris, assist me with my plan." She grinned wickedly. "Operation office infiltration is on the cards tonight, setting us right on track for 'F' – First contact."

Flora's tilted her head to the side in thought. "I-I thought F was for Flirt with danger? Meaning you do something stupid like push me into the great lake and I…I don't know? Do a bubble head charm, disappear for 10 minutes until you 'save me'. I spit out some water, splutter for a bit and then, you know, Sirius might 'happen' to be watching and admire your brave spirit?"

That would be better in Flora's opinion, and it might even be enough to kick start their relationship on its own, meaning they could skip the rest of the silly acronym.

Jenny scribbled furiously in her notebook with a single eyebrow raised. "Not bad…not bad at all."

"R-Right so, could we maybe skip the office infiltration and go right to the danger bit?"

"No. We're sticking with my plan." Jenny shook her head with a frown. "That's not to say that your plan won't be useful in the future." She perked up as she said the last bit.

Jenny finally pulled out her wand, pointing it at the wall.

"The way I imagine this plan going is like so, ahem" Jenny cleared her throat as she tapped the wall once.  
A silvery light bloomed from the end of her wand, swirling in the air before illuminating the whole wall like a muggle TV screen. She conjured up a small stick figure with a ridiculous afro and smiled over at Flora.

Morgana give her strength. Flora scrunched up her nose as she looked over at Jenny. "Let me guess, that's me?"

Did she even have to ask? The shit-eating grin on Jenny's face was enough of an answer.

Jenny did nothing but smirk and nod her head.

"It's not even that bad! It's just a bit curly." A hand subconsciously trailed through her hair as she tried to smooth it down.

Jenny shrugged. "I can't be good at everything you know; low resolution will have to do."

"B-but the hair…" Flora looked back at the figure who was twiggy, ill proportioned, and had a brown afro twice the size of its pathetic stick body resting on its head.

"Ok, so you will-" Jenny tapped her wand at the wall, "Make yourself disappear!" stick figure Flora raised her wand and the words 'DISILLUSIONMENT CHARM' flashed across the wall with a flourish of red and a poof of smoke before she dissipated.

"I suggest the following route" Jenny tapped the wall again and pawed off a crinkled sheet of paper to Flora. A large map of the castle appeared on the wall and a thick red line was marked 'The Path of Least Resistance'. Flora nodded her head silently as a small black dot labelled Phyllis, which Flora _despised_ being called, followed the path marked on the wall - hidden corridor X, main corridor B, Hidden corridor E5 to Office 7b 'Slughorn's Lair'.

It was almost same path they'd taken when they 'borrowed' some Left-handed nazle powder from the potions classroom last year. A fine path with little chance of encountering patrolling prefects or Mrs. Norris. It would do just nicely.

With another tap of Jenny's wand, a piece of parchment flashed on the wall, a list with names of all the seventh years enrolled in potions it seemed.

"So, you will do some simple charm manipulation. You could do it in your sleep I imagine." Jenny pointed her wand aggressively against the wall, as the names 'Jenny Day' and 'Sirius Black' floated up from the paper before settling next to each other.

"And MISSION COMPLETE!" Jenny tapped her wand one final time and a big red heart encompassed the wall before dissipating into nothingness, seemingly a blank white wall once again.

Well, she was in very little danger of being caught she supposed. The disillusionment charm, the carefully chosen path and her years of sneaking experience ensured that. Not to mention romance was always a soft spot for Flora, if she had a chance, no matter how slim, to make her friend happy she supposed she should take it…

"Fine" she nodded once as she stood up, brushing lint from her oversized orange jumper.

"I knew there was a reason I kept you around" Jenny slung a lanky arm over her shoulder as they headed for the greenhouses.

"So, are you still excited for Herbology club?"

"God no, do you even know me?"

* * *

Herbology club had gone off mostly without a hitch, they planted some hellebore and assisted some fourth years with a difficult homework assignment. Jenny had napped silently at the back, but only after proclaiming that all this talk of hellebore was 'Hell-e-boring' (Flora had chuckled at that).

It was only when she was standing in the common room staring at the exit that the nerves began to kick in. What if Dumbledore was a bit peckish and snuck down to the kitchens at exactly 11.04 to help himself to some cheese and crackers? He would probably intercept her in hidden corridor E5 and expel her for her antics! Or what if Wilkes and Muliber had been onto their plan all along and were silently waiting to torture her?

Jenny shook her roughly by the shoulders causing her to jerk around like a rag doll. She blinked once as her eyes settled on Jenny's face. "Get a grip of yourself Flora, this is hardly your first time!"

"R-Right, I am feeling a bit more nervous now, you know how I get." She shrugged sheepishly.

Jenny brushed her off, pushing her toward the door. "Just think of the day you are the Godmother of a little Day-Black baby, that ought to motivate you." With one final hug and a "ta-ta!" She shoved Flora into the stairwell to fend for herself.

Flora righted herself and turned back to look at the closed door, another wave of nausea roiled through her stomach like sour milk. She leaned against the door for a moment, sucking in a few deep breaths of air before pulling her wand out from her jean pocket. Right. She could do this. She rose her wand arm, twirling it around her as if wrapping herself in a rope and was met with the familiar, but ever unpleasant, sensation of raw egg trickling down her head. Perfect. She stared down at her hand which seemed almost transparent, a weird kind of chameleon effect making her blend into the stairwell.

Journeying from the common room to Slughorn's office felt more as if she were a hardened criminal trying to make a death-defying escape from Azkaban than a seventh year Ravenclaw taking part in a 'harmless' scheme. She practically squealed when a rather menacing shadow danced across a silent corridor. It felt as if Slughorn himself would burst out from the shadows at any moment, ruining her six-year run without detention.

After what seemed like hours, her hand closed around the ornate brass knob of Slughorn's office. With a quick 'Alohomora' she cracked open the door just enough to allow herself to squeeze in. The room was a mess of regal looking furniture and discarded papers. Jars of various shapes and sizes lined the walls filled with exactly the kind of things you'd expect in a Potion Masters office: eyeballs and an assortment of vomit-green liquids and powders. It was completely dark aside from a single candle in the corner, burning a dim yellow flame. The overall effect was quite terrifying, it was just enough light to make dark shadows swim across the room like terrifying phantoms Flora was sure she'd seen in her nightmares. Her jaw clenched as her eyes finally settled on a large oak table positioned against the far wall, elaborate patterns were carved into its legs and piles of what looked to be unmarked papers sat atop its pristine wooden surface.  
Noiselessly, she approached it, and after scanning the top of the desk, she opened the draws and spent a minute rifling through a few stacks of papers. She jumped a few times when she thought she heard a noise behind her but finally, she pulled out the thick wad of paper she'd been searching for. Jackpot.

Lily Evans – Mary McDonald  
Flora-Phyllis Morris – Peter Pettigrew  
Jenny Day – Remus Lupin  
Rolf Jenkins – Sirius Black  
Angelika Dover – John Melham  
Timmy Miller – Honora Jones-Beechford  
James Potter – Laura Perkins  
Lucy Chen – Simon Wilkes  
Severus Snape – Anton Mulciber

Her guilt quickly dissipated as she skimmed the list and saw who her intended was - Peter Pettigrew! Oh Merlin, she'd rather saw off her arm! She chewed her lip as she touched her wand to the parchment. First, she switched Peter and Remus, did she have a little bit of vested interest? She knew from observation that Remus was undoubtedly one of the best at potions in the grade. Plus, she'd rather be partners with anyone BUT Peter, even Timmy Miller would be better and that was saying something. She watched as the two names rose from the page glittering a pretty gold before settling back down. All she had to do was switch Peter and Sirius and they'd all be happy. Flora would avoid a painful semester spent in the company of Peter and Jenny would be able to work her womanly charms on Sirius. The perfect crime. One final touch of her wand and her work was done, she smiled down at the parchment. Easy.

With a small sense of victory, she walked back toward the door. Just a few more minutes and she could snuggle into her warm blankets and be welcomed into sleeps sweet embrace. She reached for the knob ready to sneak through when a violent cold chill wracked through her body, seemingly out of nowhere. The hairs on the back of her neck stood to attention as she felt an eerie presence at her back. Her heart rate increased tenfold. Oh Merlin! it had to be Slughorn, her perfect record would be ruined. No one would ever hire her and when her mother found out about this, well…she didn't want to think about it.

She squeezed her eyes shut, spinning around wildly to face him, she waited for him to give her a verbal lashing, one she felt she deserved.

She waited...and waited.

Nothing? She opened one eye laughing out loud as she realised, she was alone.

"R-right…" she muttered, unclenching her hands as she let out a breath much too massive to be contained in her small frame. She scurried out of the room with her heart still threatening to leap from her chest.

* * *

 **Let me know if you liked it! Denna xx**


End file.
